I still believe the free market can work for self driving cars. If there's demand for offline self driving cars, someone will make them. Probably someone in Asia will make them affordable.

But I believe regulatory capture and anti-competitive tariffs are likely to make affordable, buy-and-use cars impossible to sell in the US. Regulations will likely change annually, like they do for cars right now. The govt will be worried that China has control of our morning commute.

I hate being cynical, but cars do seem like a lost cause.